Floats that float: South Florida's Boat Parades

Decorated decks have been sailing the Intracoastal Waterway for half a century.

Decorated decks have been sailing the Intracoastal Waterway for half a century.

Wayne Roustan, Amy Beth Bennett, Dylan Bouscher

Avast ye! Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and other cities across the state have been boasting about who has the best boat parade for half a century and millions have been watching.

South Florida’s annual holiday boat parades have been around for more than 50 years if you count the little impromptu, do-it-yourself parades that boaters threw together in the 1950s and 60s.

“People that lived in this community got together to create a boat parade to share the happiness, to celebrate the holidays and be together and it really has developed into something amazing," said Lisa Founds, president & CEO, Winterfest Boat Parade. "[It's] the largest one-day live spectator event in the entire state of Florida and the seventh largest in the entire United States."

Those quaint boat parades in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Boca Raton and elsewhere turned pro, before long, complete with sponsorships and related events that include concerts.

There are lots of costumed themes with dining and dancing and all kinds of one-upmanship among parade participants to grab the attention of the millions watching on the Interacoastal Waterway, on TV, streaming online and, of course, the judges.

Some crave the attention, like the late pornography publisher Al Goldstein, who wanted to give the boat parade the finger… or an eleven-foot statue of one.

“He did it as he did everything, as a laugh," said Norm Kent, Goldstein’s attorney and friend. "That’s why he said he wanted to enter it in the Boat Parade in 1998.”

“No finger was allowed to float in our parade," Founds said, laughing. "Actually, [Goldstein] didn’t even try because he already heard that we were going to remove him from the parade so it worked out."

There have been no shortage of stars and celebrities through the years, from Kim Kardashian to Regis Philbin to Kelly Ripa to Shaquille O'Neal, and many more.

"In fact, we had Donald Trump as a grand marshall," Scott-Founds chuckled.

A lot of work goes into making these boat parades perfect because so many eyes are on South Florida.

“People fly in from all over the world," she said. “We make a $50 million impact on South Florida which is huge for a one-day live spectator event of this magnitude.”

History is boring. Dubious History is not. That’s why veteran reporter

Wayne Roustan searches South Florida for the strangest, weirdest, most offbeat and twisted tales from the past. Haunted theaters? Cartoon construction? Invading aliens? Missing fingers? Cheapskate terrorists? Beatle bedrooms? Moon tickets? Time tunnels? South Florida has it all and much more. It may sound dubious but that’s the point! Come along. You may learn something no one else knows.